Chapter 3 - The Name on the Contract
The office went black.
Not dim.
Not emergency-light dark.
Completely black.
I heard Roman move before I saw anything.
One second he was beside the desk.
The next, his hand closed around my wrist.
“Don’t move.”
His voice was low.
Controlled.
Too controlled.
“Roman—”
“Quiet.”
I stopped.
Downstairs, the engagement party music continued for three more seconds.
Then it died too.
The entire building went silent.
That was when I understood.
This was not a power failure.
Someone had shut down the building.
Roman pulled me away from the desk.
“Stay behind me.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know.”
His answer came immediately.
“That doesn’t mean I’m letting you stand in front.”
A faint red emergency light finally blinked on near the ceiling.
It barely illuminated the office.
Just enough to see shapes.
The desk.
The windows.
Roman.
And the folder still open where I had left it.
My eyes went straight to the signature.
I had seen the name.
Roman had not.
Someone had killed the lights before he could.
That meant whoever was watching us knew exactly what we had found.
“Roman.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
His head turned toward me.
“The contract.”
“What about it?”
I lowered my voice.
“I saw the signature.”
His entire body became still.
“Whose?”
Before I could answer, something struck the office door from the hallway.
Once.
Hard.
Roman moved instantly.
He pushed me behind the desk and reached beneath his jacket.
I heard the quiet metallic sound of a weapon being drawn.
The door handle moved.
Slowly.
Then stopped.
Roman stared at it.
I held my breath.
Nothing happened.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Then footsteps moved away.
Roman crossed the office.
I grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking the hallway.”
“That is exactly what they want.”
He looked at me.
“They?”
“Whoever turned off the lights after I saw that name.”
His eyes sharpened.
“You think this was about the folder?”
“I know it was.”
Another sound came from downstairs.
A woman screamed.
Then several voices rose at once.
Roman opened the door.
Emergency lights illuminated the corridor.
Two of his guards were running toward the stairwell.
Roman stopped one.
“What happened?”
The guard looked unsettled.
“Main system is down. Cameras too.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe ninety seconds.”
“Maybe?”
“We lost the internal network.”
Roman’s expression changed.
That was worse than losing electricity.
The Castell headquarters had independent power.
Backup systems.
Separated camera networks.
Multiple safeguards.
To shut everything down at once, someone needed access.
High-level access.
“What about the ballroom?” Roman asked.
“Guests are being contained. Nobody leaves.”
Roman looked at me.
I already knew what he was thinking.
If the person who signed that contract was downstairs, this blackout gave them time to destroy something.
Or escape.
“Go,” I said.
Roman didn’t move.
“Tessa—”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“Try stopping me.”
Something almost passed across his face.
Frustration.
Fear.
Maybe both.
Then he nodded once.
“Stay next to me.”
We moved toward the stairs.
As we descended, the music system suddenly returned.
But nobody started celebrating again.
The mood downstairs had changed.
Four hundred powerful people were standing beneath the chandeliers, whispering in small groups.
Security officers blocked every exit.
Chloe stood near the center of the ballroom.
She wasn’t smiling anymore.
Her father, Malcolm Bishop, was beside her.
Roman entered.
Every conversation lowered.
That was what power looked like.
Not shouting.
Silence.
Malcolm approached.
“What the hell happened?”
Roman didn’t answer his question.
“Where were you during the blackout?”
Malcolm’s face hardened.
“Excuse me?”
“Answer.”
“I was here.”
“With witnesses?”
Malcolm laughed once.
“Roman, if you’re suggesting—”
“I’m not suggesting anything.”
Chloe stepped between them.
“Roman.”
He looked at her.
She lowered her voice.
“This is our engagement party.”
“No.”
Roman glanced around the room.
“This is now a security incident.”
Chloe’s expression tightened.
I watched her carefully.
Most people would have looked frightened.
Chloe looked irritated.
That difference mattered.
She turned toward me.
Then her eyes dropped to the folder under my arm.
Too quickly.
But I saw it.
So did Roman.
“Why does she have that?” Chloe asked.
Roman’s gaze stayed on her.
“What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.”
“You looked like you recognized it.”
“I recognize a file folder.”
She smiled slightly.
“Should I be frightened of stationery now?”
Malcolm stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
Roman ignored him.
I opened the folder.
The page with the signature was still inside.
For a moment, relief moved through me.
Then I realized something.
The first page had changed.
I flipped back.
Then again.
Roman noticed.
“What?”
“There were seven pages.”
He looked down.
“How many now?”
“Six.”
My stomach dropped.
Someone had taken a page.
During the blackout.
Inside Roman’s office.
While we were standing there.
That meant the footsteps outside the door had been a distraction.
Someone had already been inside.
Roman understood at the same time I did.
“The safe.”
We turned.
Then a voice behind us said:
“Tessa.”
Elias.
He stood near one of the ballroom columns.
Watching me.
Roman saw him.
And everything changed.
Roman crossed the room so quickly that two security men moved automatically.
Elias didn’t.
He didn’t run.
He didn’t even step backward.
Roman stopped inches from him.
“You have ten seconds to explain why you’re inside my building.”
Elias smiled.
“You invited four hundred people.”
“I didn’t invite you.”
“No.”
His eyes shifted toward me.
“She did.”
I almost laughed from shock.
“I absolutely did not.”
Roman looked at me.
I shook my head.
“He approached me.”
Elias reached into his jacket.
Roman’s weapon appeared instantly.
Half the ballroom froze.
Elias slowly raised both hands.
“Relax.”
“Wrong word.”
“I’m reaching for an invitation.”
“Use two fingers.”
Elias did.
He removed a cream-colored card.
Roman took it.
Looked at the name.
Then looked toward Chloe.
“Guest of the Bishop family.”
Chloe’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Malcolm answered before she could.
“I don’t know him.”
Elias smiled.
“That’s disappointing.”
Roman looked at Elias.
“Who invited you?”
“Ask your bride.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“I have never seen this man before.”
Elias tilted his head.
“Technically true.”
My attention sharpened.
Roman noticed too.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Elias ignored him and looked at me.
“Did you check the company?”
“What company?”
“The security company.”
Roman moved between us.
“You speak to me.”
Elias’s expression became serious.
“That is exactly the mistake everyone around you makes.”
Roman didn’t blink.
Elias continued.
“They think this is about you.”
He looked at me.
“It isn’t.”
My skin went cold.
“What is it about?” I asked.
“You.”
Roman’s face became dangerous.
Elias saw it.
“I wouldn’t threaten her if I were you.”
“Then choose your next sentence carefully.”
“I’m not threatening her.”
Elias lowered his voice.
“I’m warning her.”
“About who?”
Elias glanced toward Chloe.
Then Malcolm.
Then the security guards.
“Not here.”
Roman laughed once.
Cold.
“You walked into my engagement party uninvited, approached the most important person in my organization, and now you’re telling me where we can speak?”
The words hit me.
The most important person in my organization.
Not assistant.
Not employee.
Not someone who knew the books.
For one second, I forgot where we were.
Then Elias smiled faintly.
“That sounded almost personal.”
Roman’s expression turned lethal.
“Private room. Now.”
Ten minutes later, Roman, Elias, and I were inside a conference room on the second floor.
No Chloe.
No Bishops.
No guards except two outside.
Roman locked the door.
Then looked at Elias.
“Talk.”
Elias sat down.
“I used to work for Bishop Maritime.”
Roman stayed standing.
“Doing what?”
“Risk analysis.”
“For Malcolm?”
“For his wife.”
That surprised me.
“Chloe’s mother?”
Elias nodded.
“Margaret Bishop.”
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
Margaret had died three years ago.
Official cause was an aneurysm.
“Why does that matter?” Roman asked.
“Because six months before she died, Margaret discovered someone inside Bishop Maritime was moving money through shell companies connected to private security contractors.”
I looked at Roman.
“The wedding company.”
Elias nodded.
“One of them.”
Roman remained expressionless.
“How much money?”
“Enough to finance a war.”
“Against who?”
Elias looked directly at him.
“You.”
Silence.
I sat across from Elias.
“Why wait until tonight?”
“I didn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“I tried to contact Roman two months ago.”
Roman frowned.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I sent three messages through your internal system.”
“I never received them.”
Elias looked at me.
“That’s because someone deleted them.”
I felt the pieces shifting.
Internal access.
Wedding security.
My access code.
Missing files.
Someone had been inside Roman’s system for months.
Maybe longer.
“Who?” I asked.
Elias leaned back.
“That’s what Margaret was trying to prove before she died.”
Roman’s voice went flat.
“You’re suggesting Margaret Bishop was murdered.”
“I’m saying she found something.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
Elias reached into his pocket.
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
Elias slowly placed a small flash drive on the table.
“This is.”
Nobody touched it.
I stared.
“What’s on it?”
“Margaret’s final audit.”
Roman looked at me.
I knew what he wanted.
Check it.
I moved to the conference room computer.
“No network.”
“I don’t need one.”
I used an isolated machine.
Inserted the drive.
Three folders appeared.
FINANCIAL.
SECURITY.
SUCCESSION.
I opened FINANCIAL.
Hundreds of transactions.
Millions moved between shell companies.
Private contractors.
Port companies.
Political consulting firms.
All disguised.
All connected.
Then I saw a familiar company.
Vanguard Meridian Security.
The wedding contractor.
“That’s them.”
Roman came closer.
I opened the records.
The first payments began almost four years ago.
Before Roman took control of the Castell empire.
Before his father died.
“This has been happening for years,” I whispered.
Elias nodded.
“The marriage is only the final stage.”
“Final stage of what?”
“A transfer.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“Of my company?”
“No.”
Elias looked at me.
“Of control.”
I opened SECURITY.
Personnel records filled the screen.
Names.
Photos.
Background reports.
Most of them unfamiliar.
Then one caught my eye.
A Castell employee.
Then another.
And another.
People who had worked inside Roman’s organization for years.
Security.
Accounting.
Shipping.
Legal.
All connected to the same private contractor.
Roman’s expression turned colder with every name.
“They’re embedded.”
“Yes,” Elias said.
“How many?”
“We never knew.”
I scrolled.
Then stopped.
There was a file with no name.
Only an identification code.
M-17.
I opened it.
Access denied.
Password required.
Elias leaned forward.
“Margaret protected that one.”
“Why?”
“Because M-17 was the person she believed was controlling everything.”
Roman looked at Elias.
“Do you know who it is?”
“No.”
“Then why are we here?”
“Because Margaret left the password somewhere only one person could find it.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Elias looked at me.
“You.”
Roman stepped forward.
“No.”
Elias ignored him.
“Margaret knew about you, Tessa.”
“That’s impossible.”
“She tracked Roman’s organization because she knew eventually the Bishop family would try to absorb it.”
“I had never met her.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Elias pushed the flash drive closer.
“She knew Roman trusted you.”
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“How?”
Elias finally looked uncomfortable.
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“Margaret didn’t learn about Tessa from Roman.”
I stared at him.
“Then from who?”
Elias hesitated.
And for the first time since I met him, he looked genuinely afraid.
Before he could answer, Roman’s phone rang.
One of the guards outside.
Roman answered.
“What?”
His expression changed.
“Say that again.”
He looked at me.
Then at Elias.
Roman ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
He walked toward the door.
“The security team found someone inside my office.”
My pulse jumped.
“Who?”
Roman unlocked the conference room.
The guard outside was pale.
“There’s something you need to see.”
We followed him down the hallway.
Back toward Roman’s office.
The door was open.
The desk had been searched.
The safe was unlocked.
And sitting in Roman’s chair was a woman wearing an ivory engagement dress.
Chloe.
She looked directly at me.
Then placed the missing seventh page on the desk.
“There’s one thing Roman hasn’t told you, Tessa.”
She turned the page over.
May you like
My name was written across the back.
And beneath it was a date from five years before I had ever met Roman.
